divided ; for decades , Europe was split in two by the “ Iron Curtain ”, which ran from the Barents Sea at the Norwegian-Russian border down to the Black Sea at the Turkish-Bulgarian frontier . Today , it no longer divides us . It is a symbol of a common past in the reunited Europe . This is another reason why in the autumn of 2005 a large majority in the European Parliament from all the countries and all the groups voted in favour of the motion initiated by Michael Cramer to include the “ Iron Curtain Trail ” in its report entitled “ New perspectives and new challenges for sustainable European tourism ”. It is also intended to help build and strengthen a common European identity . The trail includes countless monuments , museums and open-air facilities that remind visitors of the division of Europe and how it was overcome by the peaceful revolutions in East and Central Europe . Twenty countries take part of this project , 15 of which are current member states of the EU .
Under the slogan “ Unbuilding Walls ” the Iron Curtain Trail and the Berlin Wall Trail in 2018 were part of the Biennale in Venice . In 2019 the Iron Curtain Trail was certified by the Council of Europe as a ” Cultural Route ”.
Michael Cramer wrote the “ Berlin Wall Trail ” and a five-volume bicycle guide to the 10,000-kmlong “ Iron Curtain Trail ” in English and German , published by the Austrian publishing house Esterbauer-Verlag .
The route runs along the Western border of the former Warsaw-Pact states . It touches the Norwegian-Russian and the Finnish-Russian border and then passes the coast lines of Estonia , Latvia , Lithuania , Kaliningrad , Poland and the former GDR . The path then leads from the peninsula Priwall at Travemünde until the state-triangle between Saxony , Bavaria and the Czech Republic and follows en route the former inner-German border strip . It then passes over the elevations of the Bohemian Forest , past Mähren and the Slovakian capital Bratislava , where it passes the Danube . After the Austrian-Hungarian border , the trail continues through Slovenia and Croatia . Between Romania and Serbia , the route mostly follows the course of the Danube , finally ending at the Bulgarian Black Sea coast at the northern tip of Turkey , after having crossed Bulgaria , North Macedonia and Greece .
The Iron Curtain Trail is a ride through history , politics , culture and nature . We Europeans can be very happy that Marianne Birthler , Vaclav Havel ( 1936-2011 ) and Lech Wałęsa have served as patrons of this project .
Michael Cramer , Member of the European Parliament ( MEP ) from 2004 until 2019
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